This invention relates to handrails for escalators and moving walkways, and more particularly is concerned with applying a protective film, optionally including advertising or other visible material, to the surface of such a handrail.
Advertisers continually seek out new locations to place advertisements. It has been recognized for sometime that various forms of mass transit and the like offer good opportunities for advertising. Necessarily, mass transit systems offer a large potential audience, and a relatively small number of well positioned advertisements can be seen by a large number of people. Travelling on mass transit is usually fairly time-consuming and hence travellers of such systems often have plenty of time to view and read advertisements, which also make such advertising attractive to businesses. This has been well recognized in the past, and advertisers have sought various locations for placing advertisements.
Escalators and moving walkways are a common component of many mass transit systems, and are also found in numerous other locations with a high level of pedestrian traffic, e.g. large office buildings, shopping malls, large stores and the like. While travelling on an escalator is relatively quick compared to, say, a subway journey, an escalator ride nonetheless presents a potential audience for advertisers. While a ride on an escalator is relatively short, it is certainly long enough for a rider to notice and read an advertisement. Moreover, it is not really practical for an escalator rider to do anything else while riding the escalator, such as read a book or newspaper.
Advertisers have long recognized this, and it is common on well-used escalators to find various advertising panels. Thus, conventional poster advertising is often found lining the walls of escalator shafts. Additionally, advertisers have sought to place smaller, poster-like advertisements on smaller panels on top of the strip separating balustrades of up and down escalators. Commonly, advertisements would be placed on both sides, so as to present advertisements to riders on both the up and down escalators.
Ingenious advertisers have sought other ways of advertising on escalators. Thus, it has occurred to others that advertising could be placed on escalator handrails. This is attractive, since an escalator handrail presents an otherwise unused surface. As for grasping any object, a rider on an escalator will instinctively first look at the handrail to locate it. This ensures that the handrail, more often than not, will be at least glanced at by each user or rider. This makes it attractive for simple advertising, e.g. well known company logos and other advertising devices.
Thus, published Japanese application 57-130883 discloses a proposal for providing individual decals or stickers intended to be placed at regular intervals on an escalator handrail. These stickers include some sort of adhesive and a first film, and print ink applied to the rear of the first film.
The disadvantage with this proposal is that it requires each of these stickers or decals to be placed individually and discretely on the handrail. This is difficult, time-consuming and care would be needed to ensure that they are accurately and uniformly aligned. Moreover, each individual sticker would present a number of edges which could be caught, tending to remove it. Thus, its forward and trailing edges would present edges which could be readily caught by elements of the handrail drive mechanism. It would be appreciated that accidental removal of an adhesive sticker by the drive mechanism, so that the sticker then becomes entangled in the drive mechanism, is highly undesirable. Additionally, these edges, together with side edges of the decal would be readily visible to users, and it is believed that many users or riders of an escalator would, either deliberately, or absentmindedly, tend to pick at these edges and lift them up. This would either tend to remove each sticker or render it more susceptible to accidental entanglement in the drive mechanism.
An alternative proposal is found in Canadian patent 1,304,035 (Andrew B. French). This proposes a relatively complex construction which would require wholesale redesign of the structure of an escalator handrail. It proposes a handrail provided with some sort of a slot or the like and a transparent cover. Advertising material is then placed between the transparent cover and the main body of the handrail. This would, in theory, overcome some of the disadvantages of the Japanese proposal. Unfortunately, this proposal totally fails to address the structural requirements of an escalator handrail. A handrail is subjected to considerable stresses and strains, and one cannot simply remove substantial sections of the handrail cross-section without addressing the structural considerations.
For example, a transparent cover could be subject to substantial tensile and/or compressive stresses, depending on the drive mechanism, and this issue is not addressed. Necessarily, this proposal requires complete replacement of each escalator handrail with one according to this invention, if advertising is to be applied.
A further consideration is that in many situations it may be desirable simply to provide some form of protective cover to an escalator handrail, and this is not addressed by any of the prior art proposals outlined above. First, many escalator handrails, after a period of use can develop a dull, worn appearance. Additionally, they may accidentally have various marks or discolourations on the surface, due either to the drive mechanism or the actions of users. For some situations, eg. in luxury hotels, resorts and the like, it is desirable that escalator handrails present a good appearance. Refinishing the surface of a handrail is not practical. It is therefore desirable to provide some way of applying some sort of a film to an escalator handrail, which can present a new appearance or finish to the handrail.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a film which can be readily applied in situ to an escalator handrail. Such a film should be capable of providing one or both of: a new, refinished appearance to the handrail; and advertising messages or logos.
Preferably, the film should be capable of application readily and simply, with minimum interruption in normal operation of the escalator. This should be achievable without requiring removal or replacement of the handrails.
Additionally, the inventors have realized that this covering should be sufficiently continuous, so as to minimize edges, etc which can promote accidental removal or entanglement in the drive mechanism. Further, this should be such as to minimize the opportunities for users to remove the surface finish or covering.
The invention is based on the concept of providing a film to the surface of the handrail, which film is both continuous and is removable.
The handrail may be a moving handrail, such as on a moving sidewalk or escalator handrail or a stationary handrail, such as would be found in a stairwell. This film comprises a first film layer with a first layer of adhesive on the underside of the first layer. Optionally, a second film layer with a second layer of adhesive is provided, bonding the second film layer to the top of the first layer. The film is elongate, i.e. substantially continuous and of a uniform width adapted for mounting to a handrail. This film may optionally include a layer of printed matter on top of the first layer. A release sheet layer of the same width as the film may optionally be included to protect the first adhesive layer prior to installation. The first and second layers preferably comprise polyurethane with a thickness of 3 mil (0.003xe2x80x3) and the adhesive layers comprise an acrylic-based adhesive with a thickness of 1 mil (0.001xe2x80x3).
In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an elongate handrail in combination with a flexible film as described by the first aspect of the invention. Where the handrail is a moving handrail, the end portions of the film may overlap one another to form a spliced joint. The film may extend around the handrail and cover part of the shoulders of the handrail. For a fixed or stationary handrail, the ends of the film can simply wrap around ends of the handrail, so as not to be readily visible to a user.
There is also disclosed an apparatus for applying an adhesive, flexible film to a moving handrail. Again, the handrails, to which this aspect of the invention can be applied, include moving handrails for moving sidewalks and escalator handrails. The apparatus comprises a mounting means for mounting the apparatus to a balustrade, a first spindle means for mounting a roll of film, and a means for applying pressure to the film to cause the film to be adhered to the handrail, whereby in use, the handrail may be driven past the apparatus, causing the film to be unrolled from the roll with the means for applying pressure causing the film to adhere to the handrail. The means for applying pressure may comprise at least one roller. The apparatus may allow for the adjustment of the position of the spindle relative to the mounting means. The mounting means can comprise suction cups for vacuum attachment of the apparatus to a smooth surface or balustrade or it may comprise clamping means for clamping the apparatus to the balustrade.
It is possible that the adhesive used will not require a release sheet, and that the film could be unwound in the same manner as many commercially available adhesive tapes. Where the nature of the adhesive does require a release sheet, the apparatus may further comprise a second spindle means and a second roll for taking up a release sheet is mounted on it in use, and a drive means between the first and second spindle means. The unwinding of a film from the first spindle then causes the drive means to drive the second spindle which takes up a release sheet separated from the film leaving the roll. The drive means may comprise a gear train. The gear train can include a ratio of speeds between the first and second spindle such that the second spindle means is driven at a faster speed than required to take up the release sheet. The apparatus then includes clutch means on at least one of the two spindle means to ensure that the tension does not become too great so as to cause the release sheet to snap, and this can then maintain a uniform tension in the release sheet.
The apparatus may include a longitudinally extending member as a main body of the actual application for applying the film, and the first and second spindles may be attached to a swing arm pivotally mounted on the longitudinally extending member. A main roller may be included in the means for applying pressure and pivotally mounted with respect to the longitudinally extending member. The main roller may be biased against the top of the escalator handrail by means of a spring.
The adjustment means may comprise pivot and sliding connections.
The means for applying pressure may include a pressing mechanism including a plurality of rollers mounted symmetrically about the centre line of the means for applying pressure corresponding to a centre line of a handrail. The rollers may extend from the forward end of the pressing mechanism (the forward end corresponding to the forward motion of the handrail) to the rearward end of the roller means. The pair of rollers at the rearward end of the roller means are mounted adjacent to the center line of the apparatus and the successive pairs of rollers are mounted progressively further apart. As the moving handrail is passes through the pressing mechanism, the film is progressively wrapped around the outer surface of the handrail.
The film of the present invention is applied in accordance with a method detailed below Again, references to escalator handrails are to be understood to including handrails for moving sidewalks. The first step is to provide a flexible film comprising a first film layer and a layer of adhesive on the underside thereof, wherein the film is generally elongate and having a width corresponding to the width of the handrail. The film is then aligned to the handrail and the first end of the film is adhered to the surface of the handrail. The handrail is the driven with respect to the film to cause the film to progressively and continuously adhere to the handrail. Finally, the full width is uniformly and smoothly adhered to the surface of the handrail.
The method may include providing the film on a roll and mounting the roll on a spindle adjacent to the handrail. A roller may then be applied to the surface of the handrail to press the film against the handrail. The method may further comprise progressively wrapping the film around the lips of the handrail by means of pairs of rollers mounted further apart around the outside of the handrail. The method may further involve the use of an apparatus as mentioned.